New & Restocked

A superior red seedling that arose here and one that is a bit larger than the other large red selections we grow. It was fun to lay out a table of flowers of all the cultivars and our seedlings for comparative evaluation. It was quickly apparent that it is hard not to love red and might as well go big. Just add water, food and sun. The name refers to Anna Massena, Princess d'Esseling and Duchess of Rivoli of France. Her husband was a serious amateur ornithologist with 12,500 bird specimens including an unidentified hummingbird which he had collected along the west coast of North America. This was later named Calypte anna - Anna's Hummingbird. This is a favorite resident here all year and loves the winter flowers in our greenhouses during spates of freezing weather. The males are little emerald green Jack Russell's, flashing a conspicuous Rivoli Red throat patch.

A vigorous cross between our native stream orchid Epipactis gigantea and the European marsh orchid, E. palustris. This will make lots of stems to 18" with small flowers whose various parts are colored in orange-red, brownish and yellow and white. Easy given a rich moist soil and hardy to Z5. 

A deciduous shrub that can be treated as a perennial or a woody perennial with the form and firepower of a flowering shrub depending on your clime. Each year the pithy arching stems rocket up to human heights and explode into a cascade of pink pea flowers. A worthy addition to a perennial border or to add a floral punch in a space where evergreens are the winter showpiece. Plus, I must say its a pleasure at cut-back time with its neat arrangement and satisfying woody crack. Can be a bit aggressive in the warmer climes of the Southeast.

These is one of those elfin whimsies that always elevates my mood whenever I see it blooming. A South African bulb once known as Laperousia this is just a delight, usually red flowered but this selection flowers white with a central red blotch providing a lovely pop of contrast. This survived for years at C. Leo Hitchcocks' garden in Seattle with no care. Will seed a bit if happy and fine with dry soils. 

Why do the PNW natives always get named for Oregon? We need the vitamin D more than they do so let’s just pretend this is Washington sunshine rather than Oregon, no matter the Oregonian origins of this Cistus nursery selection. A happy little trailside favorite for many that we are happy to have in a take-home-able option. Adaptable to variable conditions including drought (though not amiable to wet feet) as well as a pal to pollinators this definitely falls into the category of “plants for the future”, and if moral victories aren’t your cuppa the well textured silvery foliage and happy yellow flowers make sure the senses don’t go unsatisfied.

The pure white flowering form of this hardy gateway drug gesner. Has everything the die-hards love about the genus with the leathery evergreen rosettes and amiably nodding open faced flowers. Happy on rock or in a sharply drained situation. Divisions off of seed grown plants from the original clone.

Our crevice garden excites a lot of visitors into experimenting with alpines and crevice planters, if you find yourself with a similar urge we highly recommend this as one of your gateway plants. Offering what's best about alpines, diminutively cute little plants with outsize floral firepower, but without a lot of the hassle and strife that cultivating them can bring. While they still want excellent drainage and fairly goldilocks temperatures they are much more forgiving than many others. When happy they will spread to form a nice mat, and a sea of pink pom-pom flowerheads.

A Mexican collection of one of these charismatic vining Alstroemeria relatives from FRBC board member Cody Hinchliff. Expect the usual fiery hued flower clusters that make us so addicted to this genus and hopefully a little more hardiness than usual given their being found at 9600' amidst pine forest, let us know!

There is some debate over the hybridity of this cultivar (or cultivar group potentially) and we are pulled in differing directions by the prevalence of hybrid suspicions normally winning out and the relative rarity of true hybridization in most ferns. Regardless of whether it is a mutt or a purebred it is a fine variation on an already classic theme. Finely cut fronds with such regularity in shape that one could easily be forgiven for assuming it to be an unfamiliar species. Cultivar ferns can be a bit marmite but I think even the purists would find this acceptable if not outright agreeable. 

Sunflowers are one of those iconic flowers that always seem to captivate and this Western US native bundles that bundle of symbology into a delightful little package of only about 2 ft tall that comes back every year. For those in the east this is like a Silphium in miniature. The all-edible composition also means that it was a useful food and medicine source for the local Salish peoples as well as other First Nations of the West Coast. It’s large range is evidence of its ease and adaptability so no need to be too fussy just pop this baby front and center and sit back to enjoy the sun.

Tufty Southwest U.S. native that is every bit as drought tolerant as it looks. Thinner blades than other species lending it a grass-like texture that belies the architectural spires of white flowers that can double the size of the foliage for an impressive 6-7' display. A sleeper cell ready to deliver unexpected wham in your xeric landscape.

The brown-eyed girls are gonna have to move out of the way because here comes the yellow-eyed grass, that isn't a grass, nor does it have the power of sight. What it does have is clumps of evergreen bladed blue-green foliage topped with bright golden stars that open with the coming of afternoon and evening, a well-timed treat for that garden party stroll. South American but hardy to zone 7 and happy in a nice sunny spot which mirrors its cheery nature.

On the spectrum of hardy aroids Pinellias fall somewhere between Arum and Arisaema with the attractive heart shaped leaves of the former and the hooded long-tongued flowers of the latter. Take that mix and shrink it all down and you get this lil cutie which reproduces itself by offsets and bulbils held on the leaves while not being as weedy as some other Pinellias. I have some qualms on calling this and the other larger marbled "form" the same thing but whatever the correct name it is still well worth having.

Bulbs of this exquisitely choice red-flowered variant of this shorter species. Saturated red interior with a white and red exterior - dang! This normally flowers 5-6 years from seed and these are a good age to get established for maximum oomph when flowering. You will be forgiven for any horticultural braggadocio!